This invention relates to a method and apparatus for providing improved border paging in a wireless network. In one form, the technique is applied in the circumstances where an intersystem page message, e.g. an IS41 ISPAGE2 message, is received in a first border switching module. The intersystem page message may originate from a second border switching module. In such case, the network determines whether the second border switching module is manufactured by a different network provider than the first border switching module. If so, a routine to address inconsistencies in the location area parameter is implemented so that an efficient paging strategy can be invoked.
While the invention is particularly directed to the art of border paging, and will be thus described with specific reference thereto, it will be appreciated that the invention may have usefulness in other fields and applications. For example, the teachings of the invention may be used in other applications where it would be advantageous to address message format incompatibility.
By way of background, wireless communication standards, such as TIA/EIA standards, associate base stations with three parameters-Serving Cell ID, Target Cell ID, and Location Area ID—each two octets in length. However, the standards do not define the format of the three parameters. Instead, the standards allow each service provider and each vendor to implement these parameters in a chosen format. Accordingly, certain incompatibilities need to be addressed in networks where more than one vendor provides network elements.
For example, when a Lucent-based system sends an intersystem page message, such as ISPAGE2, the information in Location Area ID parameter represents a Location Area (LA) value (which is also known as a Sub-MSC Paging Area). Upon receiving this location area (LA) value, a Lucent-based system will use the location area (LA) value to determine a paging strategy to locate an intended mobile phone, for example. However, a Nortel-based system does not use the Location Area value in the Location Area ID parameter. Nortel-based systems include cell/sector information in the Location Area ID parameter. When the cell/sector information does not match with any of Lucent-based provisioned data in the switching module (such as a mobile switching center (MSC)), an MSC page is conducted as a default strategy. As such, more cells than are necessary are paged.
There is a need to provide a solution by introducing a capability for a first system, such as a Lucent-based system to receive cell/sector information in the Location Area ID parameter of ISPAGE2 message from a second system, such as a Nortel-based system, and allow it to recognize this cell/sector information and map the information into a certain “paging area.” This would allow the system to perform any one of a variety of different paging strategies, such as location area (LA) paging or location area cluster (LAC) paging. Both of these are more efficient paging strategies than MSC paging, noted above.
The present invention contemplates a new and improved that resolves the above-referenced difficulties and others.